tips & tricks for the rhythmically & harmonically-challenged
Jazz For You
Sight Reading – Is it Important For Pop And/Or Jazz Pianists?
Mar 21st
Sight reading is the ability of a musician to spontaneously play any piece of music put in front of him/her. Traditionally, to be able to read music, as in the actual standard music notation, is the only way to learn a musical instrument. In the case of piano lessons, every lesson is very much focused on building the reading skill of the student so much so that sometimes, when a wrong note is played, instead of asking the student, “Did you HEAR the wrong note that you just played?” the teacher reprimands the student by saying, “Can’t you SEE that you have played the wrong note?!”
If we acknowledge that music is essentially the art of listening, that is, we appreciate the sound of music via our auditory senses, then placing too much emphasis on reading music is not exactly the best way to motivate a student-musician, especially young children and adolescents. Young people nowadays are exposed to so much music blasting away from the shopping malls to the school bus, from the piped-in music in a tiny little washroom stall to your friendly convenience store down the road, and not to mention their iPods or iPhones or laptops, for that matter. Their ears are being musically stimulated every day!
In my opinion, a student who studies pop and/or jazz music should be taught sight reading in conjunction with ear training, not as a substitute (as in those “play by ear only” courses), or the kind of classical piano teacher who only teaches ear training for music exams. The type of sight reading advocated initially should be the ability to read chord symbols and rhythmic durations based on familiar songs. As all contemporary music can be broken down to chords and rhythms, the student will be able to “hear, see and play” the music they have heard countless times. They will be able to sing or hum along to the rhythms of the chord progression, taking away the early frustration of learning to read pitch notes and finding them on the keyboard!
Eventually, the student will be eager to learn how to play the melody to their favorite song, not just sing or hum it or have someone else, like the teacher, play it. This is when the slow introduction of pitch note reading will come in. I have found this to be a natural transition with my own young students – and also those young-at heart! In fact, teaching note-reading on the first lesson is a positive killjoy for many students nowadays. The sheer fact that they can start playing chords and making “sophisticated-sounding” rhythms on the piano to the likes of Jason Mraz’s catchy I’m Yours or Michael Buble’s latin-inspired Everything is a surefire way to keep them happily practicing and looking forward to their piano lessons. No more boring lessons or teary students that need to be dragged to the piano!
So, in short, yes, sight reading is important for pop/jazz pianists, but start off by teaching them to read chord symbols and rhythmic notations. Then slowly and surely introduce the students to pitch notations and marry all the musical elements together!
I have been teaching piano for more than 20 years. Although classically-trained, I have always loved contemporary music. I grew up in a household filled with all types of music, from classical to jazz, Pavarotti to Sinatra, Goldberg to Grusin, pop, rock, etc. Currently residing in Singapore, I conduct private piano lessons in pop and jazz music to students of all ages, ranging from music enthusiasts, piano teachers to professional musicians. I also write a blog especially for pianists who find themselves rhythmically and harmonically challenged, and also on other interesting music and piano-related stuff.
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Brad Mehldau – Committed Improviser
Mar 17th
Pianist Brad Mehldau doesn’t so much stride between jazz, classical music and pop as swirl and eddy between them, absorbing traces as he goes. The American’s even-tempered independence reflects early classical training; his renowned interpretations of the jazz repertoire stem from a high school obsession. And he still loves pop and rock and roll. “I need to hear compressed, distorted guitars at least once a day,” he says. “It scratches an itch for me.”
Mehldau’s career takes in the top range of jazz – unlike many successful band leaders, he doesn’t shirk sideman duties and can list Wayne Shorter, Michael Brecker and John Scofield as credits. Recent classical commissions include work with the opera singers Renée Fleming and Anne Sofie von Otter.
But he is best known for his groundbreaking piano trio, which released its first CD in 1994, and was the first successfully to add post-Beatles pop into the jazz repertoire without trivialising either. The trio’s 10 CDs are as likely to investigate the songs of Nick Drake as those of George Gershwin, and their interpretations of Radiohead and Thelonious Monk are equally acclaimed.
Mehldau is currently touring Europe as a solo pianist – he will play in London in June as part of his duties as curator of the Wigmore Hall’s jazz series. His new double album of orchestral jazz, Highway Rider, which combines his trio with a 28-piece orchestra and extra percussion and adds guest saxophonist Joshua Redman, will be released in the UK on Monday.
Mehldau’s scoring develops a two-part melody into a rainbow of textural subtleties, resolved tensions and melodic statements. Themed on the notion of a journey,Highway Rider probes the confluence of the arbitrary and non-arbitrary in music, of balancing what is committed to the page with improvisation. One of Mehldau’s solutions was to inject risk into the recording process itself by recording live.
The journey begins and ends at home, a cycle that correlates directly to Mehldau’s life as a touring musician, constantly having to leave behind his wife and children. It captures the emotional ambiguities of parting and solitude, of companionship and isolation. There is trenchant improvisation and orchestral wash, clicky percussion and the thunder of two drummers and the intimate interplay of piano-trio jazz.
Though Mehldau’s formal technique is much remarked on, he is not conservatory-trained. Born in Jackson, Florida, in 1970, while his father was serving in the navy, and raised in New York City and the eastern states, he was drawn early to the piano – there is none of the sense of torture that so many people have when looking back to childhood tuition. His earliest musical memories are of his mother teaching him nursery rhymes. Lessons soon followed – “mostly fun pop songs and study books”.
It was not until his family moved to West Hartford, Connecticut, when Mehldau was 10, that he was introduced to the classical music literature. He clearly remembers his new Juilliard-trained piano teacher starting him off on Bach Inventions. She also ran a music camp close to Tanglewood, the summer resting point for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. His summers “were spent getting exposed to Brahms and Beethoven, playing all this gorgeous chamber music”.
But by the time he was 14, records by Oscar Peterson and late-period John Coltrane whetted his appetite for jazz. He joined his high school’s prize-winning jazz band, which gave him peer group support and an interest in the jazz back catalogue. Classical music fell by the wayside. “I couldn’t do classical at the same time as jazz, and I was a teenager. I was in my little rebellion thing.”
He didn’t return to classical music until his early 20s, when he was already playing jazz gigs. “I returned for pleasure and a desire for edification,” he says. “It was a rediscovery which since then hasn’t stopped.”
Mehldau is a committed improviser, and non-jazz references surface because they have been absorbed into his unconscious. “By placing something in another context, taking this be-wigged thing and then putting it in, automatically something different happens … that’s what makes jazz improvisation fun. There are no rules.”
It is an approach that carries into his new album. Colleagues from his musical biography helped – saxophonist Redman “is ideal for a record where there is a narrative, [because he] is a storyteller in his solos. He refers back to an idea he’s just made earlier, and builds on that.”
And avant-pop producer Jon Brion’s grasp of engineering aesthetics – microphone placement and mixing – delivered the exact combination of lush 1950s sounds and 1980s clarity that Mehldau wanted.
The recording was still a nerve-wracking experience. “Handing out parts to people who had never seen them before and the clock is ticking because they are on the union … You have three hours to get two tunes,” Mehldau recalls.
Mehldau, with his trust in his own experience, came through in spades, pulling his musical influences into orchestrated coherence, and communicating the fun he had in doing it.
—————
Mike Hobart, The Financial Times Limited 2010
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David Benoit Keeps the Creative Energy Flowing
Mar 13th
In conversation, David Benoit is as laid-back and reflective as the piano music he composes and plays.
Contacted at his home in oceanside Palos Verdes, Calif., Benoit, 56, chatted casually about the free concert he will perform Thursday at the Mount Union Theatre in Alliance. Joining him onstage will be bassist David Hughes and drummer Jamey Tait.
A five-time Grammy Award nominee, Benoit launched his recording career in 1977 and has released more than 25 albums of mostly original music, including several orchestral collaborations and a chart-topping 2006 single titled “Beat Street.”
On tour and on CD, he has played frequent tributes to the late pianist Vince Guaraldi and his “Peanuts” music. His 2008 album “Heroes” included songs by The Beatles, The Doors and Elton John, along with Dave Brubeck, Bill Evans and Horace Silver.
“Even after all these years, I am still bursting with ideas for upcoming recordings,” Benoit says. “There’s always so much out there to keep the creative energy flowing.”
Here are excerpts from the telephone interview with Benoit.
Q. I’m always a little confused by the categories of jazz, contemporary jazz, cool jazz and smooth jazz. Which fits you best?
A. I’m fine with “contemporary jazz.” To me, that means people like David Sanborn and Michael Franks. When I hear “cool jazz,” I think of Chet Baker and Miles Davis. “Smooth jazz” was a radio format based on background music, and unfortunately I happened to be there at the moment it was created. My new album is definitely not smooth jazz.
Q. How do you compose music?
A. Music … accumulates. The hardest thing is when something comes to me in a dream and I wake up and just lose it. The best thing for me is to sit down at the piano from 10 in the morning till 2 in the afternoon and not walk away until I have something.
Q. Tell me about the fans who come to your shows.
A. It is, I think, generally a fairly affluent fan base. It’s quite a lot of baby boomers, and now their kids are interested. A lot of young music students are getting turned on to my music. I have a pretty significant African-American fan base, and I’m very popular in Asia, so I get Asian-Americans at the shows as well. It all depends on the cities.
Q. Can you give me a preview of the concert you’ll be playing in Alliance next week?
A. We’re going to debut some new material from a record that isn’t even out yet, called “Earthglow.” It’s always fun to get their reaction to new songs. I always pay tribute to my heroes, and this will be no exception. I’ll be playing music by Henry Mancini and Dave Brubeck, and probably Michael Jackson. When I recorded his song “Human Nature” for the “Heroes” album, there was at the time kind of a muted response. Since he passed away, there’s been a renewed interest in his music and the great things he left behind.
Q. Will you be playing “Linus and Lucy”?
A. There’s a pretty good chance of doing that, yes. Everyone loves it. It’s one of those pieces that puts a smile on your face.
Q. I’m mostly familiar with your music from the Wave radio station in Cleveland. I was very surprised to read in your bio that you conduct and record with orchestras.
A. Most people are surprised about that. I love the variety of what I do. As a young child, I heard a lot of symphony music and I always wanted to do it. My mother was really into Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland.
Q. When did you start playing piano?
A. I could play by ear by the time I was 7. It came easy, I had a talent for it.
Q. So you weren’t dragged to piano lessons kicking and screaming?
A. Quite the opposite. I begged my parents for lessons and they were like, “Have another martini.” My parents were strange. My dad was a psychologist and jazz guitarist. They were unstructured beach people. (Chuckles) Now I drive my daughter kicking and screaming to her violin lessons.
—————
Dan Kane, CantonRep.com staff writer
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Hiromi: The Solo Piano Sorcery of Place To Be
Mar 4th
From its very first moments — a machine-gun volley of perfectly-timed notes, frenetically joyous and angular — you can tell that Hiromi’s Place To Be is anything but another sleepy, contemplative solo piano album. In fact, filling the space left by her excellent regular bandmates, the young jazz fusion keyboardist’s musical energy manifests even more vibrantly, resulting in one of the most explosively creative solo piano albums Keyboard Central has ever heard.
If you know Hiromi’s synth-y trio with bassist Tony Grey and drummer Martin Valihora, her stellar collaborations with Chick Corea, or her über-funky work with guitarist Dave Fiuczynski in the quartet Hiromi’s Sonicbloom, you’re aware that she’s a free spirit of outstanding technique and fierce compositional prowess. Place To Be showcases her talents on both fronts, leading the listener through a glitzy Las Vegas-themed suite, as well as a truly original, time-travel reinvention of Pachelbel’s Canon — all while continuing to pay tribute to jazz piano greats like Oscar Peterson throughout. Coming from the same mind that created the unforgettable synth-fusion epic “Kung Fu World Champion,” such eclecticism, skill, and fun is entirely to be expected.
We caught up with Hiromi at her home in Brooklyn, shortly after her return from concerts in her native Japan, to discuss the roots and realization of Place To Be.
Why did you decide to record a solo album?
It’s something that I wanted to try for many years. I recorded the album just before I became 30. When I was considering making this solo album, I started to think about how my life has been these past ten years. I realized I was touring and traveling to so many places, and I just wanted to make an album with the gratitude I felt for my audiences. I wanted to thank the people who gave me the places to be.
Your version of Pachelbel’s Canon is striking. How did you get such an interesting sound out of the piano?
I just put a metallic ruler in the piano and I took it off with my right hand while I was playing with my left hand during the song. It was pretty hard. I had to practice so I didn’t make noise when I took it off — and I had to make sure I didn’t go out of time with my left hand when I was doing something else with my right hand.
Do you play inside the piano often?
I’ve been doing it since I was very small. Just through curiosity I started playing with strings and putting stuff inside the piano.
How did you come across the idea of using a metal ruler as opposed to bubble gum, marbles, or anything else?
When I was small, I had some chances to play the harpsichord. I was fascinated and I was looking for that same kind of sound — and I just found it with the ruler. I thought, “Yeah, this is kind of similar.” Pachelbel’s Canon is such an old song. I wanted to do something that went from the past to now. I wanted to make that transition from original to current, and that’s why I started it kind of oldie style. [Laughs.]
What was the compositional process like for this album?
I wanted to choose songs that came from physical places. Sometimes when I see a landscape, a melody lands in my head — that’s how I start writing. It’s just like how some people paint — but I write music. I compose bit by bit, trying to construct the song, have it make sense, and have it be close to the image that I saw.
Of course, I write things that I can’t really play. I do that so often. I just hear it, write it, and then realize that I need three hands to play what I’ve composed. When I record songs, I have to practice so that I can play complex things with one hand. So that’s hard stuff. [Laughs.]
So you really push your comfort zone when it comes to technique.
I write things that I’m not used to playing. I don’t like to go with the habits that my hands have, so I try to sing a melody, so that my fingers don’t lead the way, so that the melody really has to lead itself. The melody that is ringing in my brain, in my heart, has to lead the song
Having small hands made me have to work hard to play piano — and I still have to work hard. My goal as a pianist is to make the instrument sound full. Whenever I listen to amazing pianists, they make the instrument sound like an orchestra. I can hear how much potential that instrument carries, so I really want to capture that as a pianist. To make it happen with small hands is not that easy, so I have to practice hard.
How wide do your hands stretch? Can you hit tenths?
No, no way! Octaves — and if I stretch harder, I can play more, from C to D, but that’s the maximum. Octaves are very hard already.
Given how strong your technique is and how quickly you can move, you’d never guess.
[Laughs.] That’s good news.
What advice could you offer to piano players who want to make the piano sound as big as you do?
When you play, you have to hear the orchestration in the piano. Try thinking like you’re playing bass with the pinky and the ring finger on the left hand, and then maybe guitar with the other three fingers in the left hand. Maybe three fingers in the right hand can be trombone, saxophone, and trumpet. The top two — the ring finger and the pinky on the right hand — can be flute and oboe. That’s what I see when I play. Even though the piano is only one instrument, it can be so many pieces of an orchestra
It sounds like you’ve really spent a lot of time with orchestral and big band music.
Yes, and I’ve written for orchestras and big bands. [Having had that experience] definitely helps in my solo piano playing.
If you’re trying to make the piano sound like an orchestra, how do you avoid playing too much?
It’s just like any orchestral piece. Everyone doesn’t always have to play. Sometimes it’s flutes only. Sometimes it’s strings only.
For me, it’s so important to honor all 88 keys — not necessarily to play all of them, but to be aware of them. The piano is like a living animal. I feel that each key has a soul and every key is trying to get my attention to be played. A lot of pianists, when they play with a bass player and drummer, tend to use the upper side of the piano because a bass player covers the lower range. But I think that if I did that, the left half of the piano would miss out, and be sad. That’s how I think when I make music for the band as well — I want to be aware of the existence of 88 keys and make them happy. I’m the player, but at the same time, I’m like a conductor in charge of 88 players.
I don’t always play every key in one show — that could be too busy. The important thing is if I’m conscious of each one. Awareness is always the key.
When you write music, do you write it by hand, use notation software, or neither?
I write by hand. It can be chords, notes, and words. Sometimes I just write words that can make me connect to the landscape.
What sorts of words?
I’m walking down the street and then suddenly I think, “Why am I standing here?” And I look at the sky and it’s blue. Or something like that. So that I can reconnect to that image and feeling, it’s nice to put [reference words in the musical score] as I write.
When I play music, I want people to see a landscape. Music and visual images are very strongly connected, and music makes people dream. I’m like a soundtrack creator and listeners can be the film director. I’m always curious if the images I see and the images the audience sees are the same or not. Maybe it’s completely different. Either way, I want to stimulate that part of the brain that makes you see the landscape in the music.
What advice could you offer to musicians or composers who want to do that as well?
Experience more things in life, because music doesn’t come from music — music comes from experiences and what you see, what you feel. You cannot think about notes when you compose. You have to think about something else — to translate what you feel into notes.
So if you spend all of your time in a practice room, you’re not going to have much to say.
Definitely not. But practicing is an important thing. I am a practicer — I love it so much, so I do sometimes lock myself in the house and practice hard. But it’s important to feel the weather changes. It’s important to feel the seasons. It’s important to talk to people, and learn, and just experience life. It’s very important because there are so many things that you can learn outside of the practice room, and then bring back to your music.
Can you talk a little bit about how you practice?
When I’m with the piano, I do exercises. I do play a little classical music, not only for the technique, but more for the compositional aspects because classical composers really know how to make the piano sound full. They have a deep understanding of the instrument. I also just love playing standards. And when I’m not with a piano, I listen to great musical giants. That’s the most amazing practicing source, I think.
How do you keep your fingers in shape when you’re flying all over the world?
You can do so much practicing just from a table. I always try to move my fingers somehow, so that my muscle memory doesn’t go away. When I can be in a club for a couple days, of course, I go in earlier than the performance time so I can feel the piano.
Do people ever look at you funny on airplanes when you just move your fingers around a lot?
Yes, they do. [Laughs.] Sometimes, I don’t realize that I’m moving the fingers and making these huge noises on the armrest. Then the person who’s sitting next to me will ask, “What are you doing?” And I’m like, “Huh?” I’ve been doing it for too many years. I don’t even realize it sometimes.
How much of the music on Place To Be is written note-for-note, and how much is improvised?
It depends. The “Viva! Vegas” songs are more written, but others are less so. Songs like “Somewhere” are very open. It’s more like a standard where I only have a lead sheet.
I have a lot of freedom, especially because I’m playing solo. In a live performance situation, as long as I’m responsible for what’s coming next, then I can go anywhere and make new stories. Sometimes some idea hits my brain when I’m playing — okay, let’s try this route. It’s a completely new journey that I’ve never taken before.
And it’s very risky as well, because [this time] there’s nobody else on the stage apart from me, so I have to be responsible for every single decision that I make. No one will save me if I’m about to jump out. I love that edgy feeling.
Do you ever get nervous?
No. It’s just far too much fun.
On “BQE” in particular, which parts were written out beforehand?
The melody and the interlude are pretty much it, I think. The BQE [Brooklyn- Queens Expressway in New York City] is chaotic and hectic. Then when you are very tired of the drive, you suddenly see the beautiful skyline of Manhattan, which makes everybody dream, and there is a crazy contrast between reality and fantasy. The interlude actually stands for the skyline that suddenly brings you back to the reason why you came to New York in the first place. The BQE is kind of the road that you have to take to get to the dream.
Every day has different places and directions that you have to take — of course in the expressway — but in life, too. So when I’m playing in a performance, I always can create new drama in the song. I always have to come back to the interlude.
How similar are your overall performances show to show?
I want to be a storyteller when I play music, and I have so many stories to tell. Some parts are set, but then I also have these improvised parts, and improvised stories that I can only tell on that very day I play them. It’s so much fun.
Hiromi On the Road
Piano preferences: Most of the time I try to bring the Yamaha CF-IIIS. I grew up with a Yamaha, so the action and the pedal — everything feels like home. My body’s just accustomed to playing Yamaha.
Of course, I’ve met many beautiful pianos from other companies. I love their sounds, but I just don’t feel home when I play them. Every piano maker makes a different instrument. So even though I love the sound, I just don’t feel I belong to the instrument.
I use the piano as a melodic instrument and a percussion instrument as well. It’s very hard to find a very warm piano that also has a very clear attack.
Synth rig: I’m playing a Nord Electro 73, a Nord Lead 2, and a Korg MicroKorg, which I used on the two albums before this solo album.
Why the MicroKorg? It’s a very simple keyboard and I just needed some extra sounds. I was looking for a keyboard that fit on top of the piano, and with the Nord Lead [there already], I only had a very small physical space available.
———————
Michael Gallant, Keyboard Magazine
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What Are Chord Families?
Jan 21st
Chords are an essential element in playing any contemporary music style. Hence, a firm understanding and grasp of modern harmony is very important in order to be able to play a jazz or pop piece convincingly.
However, it seems like there are so many chords and chord types that it begins to get very confusing, if not difficult to remember and perform instantaneously. This is where the study of chord families comes in. We use chord families to categorize chords by their quality and how they function. Essentially, there are three main chord qualities, i.e. major, minor, and dominant, which are grouped into nine different families.
Major chord families contain all the major types that function as chord I in a major key. This also includes its substitutes, i.e. IIImi and VImi. For example, in the key of C, these chords are C, Emi and Ami. And, of course, the chord types can be anything from C major triad, Cma7, Cma9, to Cma7(#11).
The first minor chord family consists of minor types that function as chord II in a major key. This includes its substitute, i.e. IV. For example, in the key of C, the two chords are Dmi and F. Again, all types are included here, e.g. Dmi7, Dmi11, etc.
The first dominant chord family comprises the primary dominant of the major key and its substitute VII. So in the key of C, this will be the G7 and Bdim. The chord types can range from G7, to G7sus4, to G13.
The second minor chord family is made up of chord I in a minor key area and its substitutes, i.e. chord III and VI (chord quality depending on which minor scale). Hence, in the key of C Natural Minor, these chords are Cmi7, Ebmaj7 and Abmaj7. Chord types include anything from Cmi(add9) to Cmi13.
The third minor chord family consists of the minor chord that functions as the IImi7b5 in a minor key. This also includes its substitute IV. So in the key of C Harmonic Minor, the chords are Dmi7b5 and Fmi7. Again, all the chord types are available.
The second dominant chord family is in the minor key area and includes the dominant seventh with a raised 11th. Hence, in the key of C Melodic Minor, this will be the F7#11 chord, or F9#11, or F13#11, and even F7b5.
The third dominant chord family covers the dominant seventh with an altered ninth, i.e. V7b9 or V7#9, in a minor key. In the C Harmonic Minor key, this will be either the G7b9 or G7#9 chord and their other bigger types.
The final dominant chord family comprises the dominant seventh with all the altered tension notes including the flatted 13th. In the key of C minor, this can be a G7b13, or G7(#11,b13), or G7(b9,b13), etc. As long as the dominant seventh chord contains an altered 13th note it falls into this family.
And, finally, the diminished chord family contains the diminished seventh chords. This is closely related to the third dominant chord family as its upper structure. For example, the upper structure starting on the 3rd note of G7b9 forms the Bdim7. However, this particular chord always functions as a passing chord, so it does not have the prominence of the G7b9 family.
You will find that the nine chord families above will cover all the available chords in music. This makes the study of chords much easier to understand and relate to. Don’t worry about the hundreds of chord types and qualities. So as long as you can break a chord down to its basic function, it will definitely fall into one of the category of chord families mentioned above.
I have been teaching piano for more than 20 years. Although classically-trained, I have always loved contemporary music. I grew up in a household filled with all types of music, from classical to jazz, Pavarotti to Sinatra, Goldberg to Grusin, pop, rock, etc. Currently residing in Singapore, I conduct private piano lessons in pop and jazz music to students of all ages, ranging from music enthusiasts, piano teachers to professional musicians. I also write a blog especially for pianists who find themselves rhythmically and harmonically challenged, and also on other interesting music and piano-related stuff.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nicole_H._E._Lee
http://EzineArticles.com/?What-Are-Chord-Families?&id=3602243
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